Philip Schaff · 55 of 85

The Second Helvetic Confession in English. · Part 2

By death, therefore, we understand not only bodily death, which is once to be suffered of us all for our sins, but also everlasting punishments due to our corruption and to our sins. For the Apostle says, 'We were dead in trespasses and sins, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others; but God, who is rich in mercy, even when we were dead in sins, quickened us together with Christ' (Eph. ii. 1–5). Again, 'As by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin, death, and so death passed upon all men, forasmuch as all men have sinned,' etc. (Rom. v. 12).

We therefore acknowledge that original sin is in all men;; we acknowledge that all other sins which spring therefrom are both, called and are indeed sins, by what name soever they may be termed, whether mortal or venial, or also that which is called sin against the Holy Spirit, which is never forgiven.

We also confess that sins are not equal (John v. 16, 17), although they spring from the same fountain of corruption and unbelief, but that some are more grievous than others (Mark iii. 28, 29); even as the Lord has said, 'It shall be easier for Sodom' than for the city that despises the word of the Gospel (Matt. x. 15). We therefore condemn all those that have taught things contrary to these; but especially Pelagius, and all the Pelagians, together with the Jovinianists, who, with the Stoics, count all sins equal. We in this matter agree fully with St. Augustine, who produced and maintained his sayings out of the Holy Scriptures. Moreover, we condemn Florinus and Blastus (against whom also Irenæus wrote), and all those who make God the author of sin; seeing it expressly written, 'Thou art not a God that loveth wickedness; thou hatest all them that work iniquity, and wilt destroy all that speak leasing' (Psa. v. 4–6). And, again, 'When the devil speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; because he is a liar, and the father of lies' (John viii. 44). Yea, there are even in ourselves sin and corruption enough, so that there is no need that God should infuse into us either a new or greater measure of wickedness.

Therefore, when God is said in the Scripture to harden (Exod. vii. 13), to blind (John xii. 40), and to deliver us up into a reprobate sense (Rom. i. 28), it is to be understood that God does it by just judgment, as a just judge and revenger. To conclude, as often as God in the Scripture is said and seems to do some evil, it is not thereby meant that man does not commit evil, but that God does suffer it to be done, and does not hinder it; and that by his just judgment, who could hinder it if he would: or because he makes good use of the evil of men, as lie did in the sin of Joseph's brethren; or because himself rules sins, that they break not out and rage more violently than is meet. St. Augustine, in his Enchiridion, says, 'After a wonderful and unspeakable manner, that is not done beside his will which is done contrary to his will; because it could not be done if he should not suffer it to be done; and yet he doth not suffer it to be done unwillingly; neither would he, being God, suffer any evil to be done, unless, being also almighty, he could make good of evil.' Thus far Augustine.

Other questions, as whether God would have Adam fall, or whether he forced him to fall, or why he did not hinder his fall, and such like, we account among curious questions (unless perchance the frowardness of heretics, or of men otherwise importunate, do compel us to open these points also out of the Word of God, as the godly doctors of the Church have oftentimes done); knowing that the Lord did forbid that man should eat of the forbidden fruit, and punished his transgression ; and also that the things done are not evil in respect of the providence, will, and power of God, but in respect of Satan, and our will resisting the will of God.

CHAPTER IX.—OF FREE-WILL, AND SO OF MAN'S POWER AND ABILITY.

We teach in this matter, which at all times has been the cause of many conflicts in the Church, that there is a triple condition or estate of man to be considered. First, what man was before his fall—to wit, upright and free, who might both continue in goodness and decline to evil; but he declined to evil, and has wrapped both himself and all mankind in sin and death, as has been shown before.

Secondly, we are to consider what man was after his fall. His understanding, indeed, was not taken from him, neither was he deprived of his will, and altogether changed into a stone or stock. Nevertheless, these things are so altered in man that they are not able to do that now which they could do before his fall. For his understanding is darkened, and his will, which before was free, is now become a servile will; for it serveth sin, not nilling, but willing—for it is called a will, and not a nill. Therefore, as touching evil or sin, man does evil, not compelled either by God or the devil, but of his own accord; and in this respect he has a most free will. But whereas we see that oftentimes the most evil deeds and counsels of man are hindered by God, that they can not attain their end, this does not take from man liberty in evil, but God by his power does prevent that which man otherwise purposed freely: as Joseph's brethren did freely purpose to slay Joseph; but they were not able to do it, because it seemed otherwise good to God in his secret counsel.

But, as touching goodness and virtues, man's understanding does not of itself judge aright of heavenly things. For the evangelical and apostolical Scripture requires regeneration of every one of us that will be saved. Wherefore our first birth by Adam does nothing profit us to salvation. Paul says, 'The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit,' etc. (1 Cor. ii. 14). The same Paul elsewhere denies that we are 'sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves' (2 Cor. iii. 5).

Now, it is evident that the mind or understanding is the guide of the will; and, seeing the guide is blind, it is easy to be seen how far the will can reach. Therefore man, not as yet regenerate, has no free-will to good, no strength to perform that which is good. The Lord says in the Gospel, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin' (John viii. 34). And Paul the Apostle says, 'The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be' (Rom. viii. 7).

Furthermore, there is some understanding of earthly things remaining in man after his fall. For God has of mercy left him wit, though much differing from that which was in him before his fall. God commands us to garnish our wit, and therewithal he gives gifts and also the increase thereof. And it is a clear case that we can profit very little in all arts without the blessing of God. The Scripture, no doubt, refers all arts to God; yea, and the Gentiles also ascribe the beginnings of arts to the gods, as the authors thereof.

Lastly, we are to consider whether the regenerate have free-will, and how far they have it. In regeneration the understanding is illuminated by the Holy Spirit, that it may understand both the mysteries and will of God. And the will itself is not only changed by the Spirit, but it is also endued with faculties, that, of its own accord, it may both will and do good (Rom. viii. 4). Unless we grant this, we shall deny Christian liberty, and bring in the bondage of the law. Besides, the prophet brings in God speaking thus: 'I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts' (Jer. xxxi. 33; Ezek. xxxvi. 27). The Lord also says in the Gospel, 'If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed' (John viii. 36). Paul also to the Philippians, 'Unto you is given for Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake' (Phil. i. 29). And, again, 'I am persuaded that he that began this good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ' (ver. 6). Also, 'It is God that worketh in you the will and the deed' (Phil. ii. 13).

Where, nevertheless, we teach that there are two things to be observed—first, that the regenerate, in the choice and working of that which is good, do not only work passively, but actively; for they are moved of God that themselves may do that which they do. And Augustine does truly allege that saying that 'God is said to be our helper; but no man can be helped but he that does somewhat.' The Manichæans did bereave man of all action, and made him like a stone and a block.

Secondly, that in the regenerate there remains infirmity. For, seeing that sin dwells in us, and that the flesh in the regenerate strives against the Spirit, even to our lives' end, they do not readily perform in every point that which they had purposed. These things are confirmed by the apostle (Rom. vii. 13–25; Gal. v. 17).

Therefore, all free-will is weak by reason of the relics of the old Adam remaining in us so long as we live, and of the human corruption which so nearly cleaves to us. In the meanwhile, because the strength of the flesh and the relics of the old man are not of such great force that they can wholly quench the work of the Spirit, therefore the faithful are called free, yet so that they do acknowledge their infirmity, and glory no whit at all of their free-will. Far that which St. Augustine does repeat so often out of the apostle ought always to be kept in mind by the faithful: 'What hast thou that thou didst not receive? and if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?' (1 Cor. iv. 7). Hitherto may be added that that comes not straightway to pass which we have purposed, for the events of things are in the hand of God. For which cause Paul besought the Lord that he would prosper his journey (Rom. i. 10). Wherefore, in this respect also, free-will is very weak.

But in outward things no man denies but that both the regenerate and the unregenerate have their free-will; for man hath this constitution common with other creatures (to whom he is not inferior) to will some things and to nill other things. So he may speak or keep silence, go out of his house or abide within. Although herein also God's power is evermore to be marked, which brought to pass that Balaam could not go so far as he would (Numb. xxiv. 13), and that Zacharias, coming out of the Temple, could not speak as he would have done (Luke i. 22).

In this matter we condemn the Manichæans, who deny that the beginning of evil unto man, being good, came from his free-will. We condemn, also, the Pelagians, who affirm that an evil man has free-will sufficiently to perform a good precept. Both these are confuted by the Scripture, which says to the former, 'God made man upright' (Eccles. vii. 29); and to the latter, 'If the Son make you free, then ye shall be free indeed' (John viii. 36).

CHAPTER X.—OF THE PREDESTINATION OF GOD AND THE ELECTION OF THE SAINTS.

God has from the beginning freely, and of his mere grace, without any respect of men, predestinated or elected the saints, whom he will save in Christ, according to the saying of the apostle, 'And he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world' (Eph. i. 4); and again, 'Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given unto us, through Jesus Christ, before the world was, but is now made manifest by the appearance of our Saviour Jesus Christ' (2 Tim. i. 9, 10).

Therefore, though not for any merit of ours, yet not without a means, but in Christ, and for Christ, did God choose us; and they who are now-ingrafted into Christ by faith, the same also were elected. But such as are without Christ were rejected, according to the saying of the apostle, 'Prove yourselves, whether ye be in the faith. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?' (2 Cor. xiii. 5).

To conclude, the saints are chosen in Christ by God unto a sure end, which end the apostle declares when he says, 'He hath chosen us in him, that we should be holy and without blame before him through love; who has predestinated us to be adopted through Jesus Christ unto himself, for the praise of his glorious grace' (Eph. i. 4–6).

And although God knows who are his, and now and then mention is made of the small number of the elect, yet we must hope well of all, and not rashly judge any man to be a reprobate: for Paul says to the Philippians, 'I thank my God for you all' (now he speaks of the whole Church of the Philippians), 'that ye are come into the fellowship of the Gospel; and I am persuaded that he that hath begun this work in you will perform it as it becometh me to judge of you all' (Phil. i. 3–7).

And when the Lord was asked whether there were few that should be saved, he does not answer and tell them that few or many should be saved or damned, but rather he exhorts every man to 'strive to enter in at the strait gate' (Luke xiii. 24): as if he should say, It is not for you rashly to inquire of these matters, but rather to endeavor that you may enter into heaven by the strait way.

Wherefore we do not allow of the wicked speeches of some who say, Few are chosen, and seeing I know not whether I am in the number of these few, I will not defraud my nature of her desires. Others there are who say, If I be predestinated and chosen of God, nothing can hinder me from salvation, which is already certainly appointed for me, whatsoever I do at any time; but if I be in the number of the reprobate, no faith or repentance will help me, seeing the decree of God can not be changed: therefore all teachings and admonitions are to no purpose. Now, against these men the saying of the apostle makes much, 'The servants of God must be apt to teach, instructing those that are contrary-minded, proving if God at any time will give them repentance, that they may come to amendment out of the snare of the devil, which are taken of him at his pleasure' (2 Tim. ii. 24–26).

Besides, Augustine also teaches, that both the grace of free election and predestination, and also wholesome admonitions and doctrines, are to be preached {Lib. de Bono Perseverantiæ, cap. 14).

We therefore condemn those who seek otherwhere than in Christ whether they be chosen from all eternity, and what God has decreed of them before all beginning. For men must hear the Gospel preached, and believe it. If thou belie vest, and art in Christ, thou mayest undoubtedly hold that thou art elected. For the Father has revealed unto us in Christ his eternal sentence of predestination, as we even now showed out of the apostle, in 2 Tim. i. 9, 10. This is therefore above all to be taught and well weighed, what great love of the Father toward us in Christ is revealed. We must hear what the Lord does daily preach unto us in his Gospel: how he calls and says, 'Come unto me all ye that labor and are burdened, and I will refresh you' (Matt. xi. 28); and, 'God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life' (John iii. 16); also, 'It is not the will of your Father in heaven that any of these little ones should perish' (Matt. xviii. 14).

Let Christ, therefore, be our looking-glass, in whom we may behold our predestination. We shall have a most evident and sure testimony that we are written in the Book of Life if we communicate with Christ, and he be ours, and we be his, by a true faith. Let this comfort us in the temptation touching predestination, than which there is none more dangerous: that the promises of God are general to the faithful; in that he says, 'Ask, and ye shall receive; every one that asketh receiveth' (Luke xi. 9, 10). And, to conclude, we pray, with the whole Church of God, 'Our Father which art in heaven' (Matt. vi. 9); and in baptism, we are ingrafted into the body of Christ, and we are fed in his Church, oftentimes, with his flesh and blood, unto everlasting life. Thereby, being strengthened, we are commanded to 'work out our salvation with fear and trembling,' according to that precept of Paul, in Phil. ii. 12.

CHAPTER XI.—OF JESUS CHRIST, BEING TRUE GOD AND MAN, AND THE ONLY SAVIOUR OF THE WORLD.

Moreover, we believe and teach that the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ, was from all eternity predestinated and foreordained of the Father to be the Saviour of the world. And we believe that he was begotten, not only then, when he took flesh of the Virgin Mary, nor yet a little before the foundations of the world were laid; but before all eternity, and that of the Father after an unspeakable manner. For Isaiah says (liii. 8), 'Who can tell his generation?' And Micah says (v. 2), 'Whose egress hath been from everlasting.' And John says (i. 1), 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God,' etc.

Therefore the Son is coequal and consubstantial with the Father, as touching his divinity: true God, not by name only, or by adoption, or by special favor, but in substance and nature (Phil. ii. 6). Even as the apostle says elsewhere, 'This is the true God, and life everlasting' (1 John v. 20). Paul also says, 'He hath made his Son the heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; the same is the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, bearing up all things by his mighty word' (Heb. i. 2, 3). Likewise, in the Gospel, the Lord himself says, 'Father, glorify thou me with thyself, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was' (John xvii. 5). Also elsewhere it is written in the Gospel, 'The Jews sought how to kill Jesus, because he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God' (John v. 18).

We therefore do abhor the blasphemous doctrine of Arius, and all the Arians, uttered against the Son of God; and especially the blasphemies of Michael Servetus, the Spaniard, and of his complices, which Satan through them has, as it were, drawn out of hell, and most boldly and impiously spread abroad throughout the world against the Son of God.

We also teach and believe that the eternal Son of the eternal God was made the Son of man, of the seed of Abraham and David (Matt. i. 25); not by the means of any man, as Ebion affirmed, but that he was most purely conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of Mary, who was always a virgin, even as the history of the Gospel does declare. And Paul says, 'He took not on him the nature of angels, but of the seed of Abraham' (Heb. ii. 16). And John the apostle says, 'He that believeth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God' (1 John iv. 3). The flesh of Christ, therefore, was neither flesh in show only, nor yet flesh brought from heaven, as Valentinus and Marcion dreamed.

Moreover, our Lord Jesus Christ had not a soul without sense and reason, as Apollinaris thought; nor flesh without a soul, as Eunomius did teach; but a soul with its reason, and flesh with its senses, by which senses he felt true griefs in the time of his passion, even as he himself witnessed when he said, 'My soul is heavy, even to death' (Matt. xxvi. 38); and, 'My soul is troubled,' etc. (John xii. 27).

We acknowledge, therefore, that there be in one and the same Jesus Christ our Lord two natures—the divine and the human nature; and we say that these two are so conjoined or united that they are not swallowed up, confounded, or mingled together; but rather united or joined together in one person (the properties of each nature being safe and remaining still), so that we do worship one Christ our Lord, and not two. I say one, true God and man, as touching his divine nature, of the same substance with us, and 'in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin' (Heb. iv. 15).

As, therefore, we detest the heresy of Nestorius, which makes two Christs of one and dissolves the union of the person, so do we abominate the madness of Eutyches and of the Monothelites and Monophysites, who overthrow the propriety of the human nature.

Therefore we do not teach that the divine nature in Christ did suffer, or that Christ, according to his human nature, is yet in the world, and so in every place. For we do neither think nor teach that the body of Christ ceased to be a true body after his glorifying, or that it was deified and so deified that it put off its properties, as touching body and soul, and became altogether a divine nature and began to be one substance alone; therefore we do not allow or receive the unwitty subtleties, and the intricate, obscure, and inconstant disputations of Schwenkfeldt, and such other vain janglers, about this matter; neither are we Schwenkfeldians.

Moreover, we believe that our Lord Jesus Christ did truly suffer and die for us in the flesh, as Peter says (1 Pet. iv. 1). We abhor the most impious madness of the Jacobites, and all the Turks, who execrate the passion of our Lord. Yet we deny not but that 'the Lord of glory,' according to the saying of Paul, was crucified for us (1 Cor. ii. 8); for we do reverently and religiously receive and use the communication of properties drawn from the Scripture, and used of all antiquity in expounding and reconciling places of Scripture which at first sight seem to disagree one from another.

We believe and teach that the same Lord Jesus Christ, in that true flesh in which he was crucified and died, rose again from the dead; and that he did not rise up another flesh, but retained a true body. Therefore, while his disciples thought that they did see the spirit of their Lord Christ, he showed them his hands and feet, which were marked with the prints of the nails and wounds, saying, 'Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have' (Luke xxiv. 39).

We believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, in the same flesh, did ascend above all the visible heavens into the very highest heaven, that is to say, the seat of God and of the blessed spirits, unto the right hand of God the Father. Although it do signify an equal participation of glory and majesty, yet it is also taken for a certain place; of which the Lord, speaking in the Gospel, says, that 'He will go and prepare a place for his' (John xiv. 2). Also the Apostle Peter says, 'The heavens must contain Christ until the time of restoring all things' (Acts iii. 21).

And out of heaven the same Christ will return unto judgment, even then when wickedness shall chiefly reign in the world, and when Antichrist, having corrupted true religion, shall fill all things with superstition and impiety, and shall most cruelly waste the Church with fire and bloodshed. Now Christ shall return to redeem his, and to abolish Antichrist by his coming, and to judge the quick and the dead (Acts xvii. 31). For the dead shall arise, and those that shall be found alive in that day (which is unknown unto all creatures) 'shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye' (1 Cor. xv. 51, 52). And all the faithful shall be taken up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. iv. 17); that thenceforth they may enter with him into heaven, there to live forever (2 Tim. ii. 11); but the unbelievers, or ungodly, shall descend with the devils into hell, there to burn forever, and never to be delivered out of torments (Matt. xxv. 41).

We therefore condemn all those who deny the true resurrection of the flesh, and those who think amiss of the glorified bodies, as did Joannes Hierosolymitanus, against whom Jerome wrote. We also condemn those who have thought that both the devils and all the wicked shall at length be saved and have an end of their torments; for the Lord himself has absolutely set it down that 'Their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched' (Mark ix. 44).

Moreover, we condemn the Jewish dreams, that before the day of judgment there shall be a golden age in the earth, and that the godly shall possess the kingdoms of the world, their wicked enemies being trodden under foot; for the evangelical truth (Matt. xxiv. and xxv., Luke xxi.), and the apostolic doctrine (in the Second Epistle to the Thessalonians ii., and in the Second Epistle to Timothy iii. and iv.) are found to teach far otherwise.

Furthermore, by his passion or death, and by all those things which he did and suffered for our sakes from the time of his coming in the flesh, our Lord reconciled his heavenly Father unto all the faithful (Rom. v. 10); purged their sin (Heb. i. 3); spoiled death, broke in sunder condemnation and hell; and by his resurrection from the dead brought again and restored life and immortality (Rom. iv. 25; 1 Cor. xv. 17; 2 Tim. i. 10). For he is our righteousness, life, and resurrection (John vi. 44); and, to be short, he is the fullness and perfection, the salvation and most abundant sufficiency, of all the faithful. For the apostle says, 'So it pleaseth the Father that all fullness should dwell in him' (Col. i. 19), and 'In him ye are complete' (Col. ii. 10).

For we teach and believe that this Jesus Christ our Lord is the only and eternal Saviour of mankind, yea, and of the whole world, in whom all are saved before the law, under the law, and in the time of the Gospel, and so many as shall yet be saved to the end of the world. For the Lord himself, in the Gospel, says, 'He that entereth not in by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up the other way, he is a thief and a robber' (John x. 1). 'I am the door of the sheep' (ver. 7). And also in another place of the same Gospel he says, 'Abraham saw my day, and rejoiced' (John viii. 56). And the Apostle Peter says, 'Neither is there salvation in any other, but in Christ; for among men there is given no other name under heaven whereby they might be saved' (Acts iv. 12). We believe, therefore, that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as our fathers were. For Paul says, that 'All our fathers did eat the same spiritual meat, and drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of the spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Bock was Christ' (1 Cor. x. 3, 4). And therefore we read that John said, that 'Christ was that Lamb which was slain from the foundation of the world' (Rev. xiii. 8); and that John the Baptist witnesseth, that Christ is that 'Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world' (John i. 29).

Wherefore we do plainly and openly profess and preach, that Jesus Christ is the only Redeemer and Saviour of the world, the King and High Priest, the true and looked-for Messiah, that holy and blessed one (I say) whom all the shadows of the law, and the prophecies of the prophets, did prefigure and promise; and that God did supply and send him unto us, so that now we are not to look for any other. And now there remains nothing, but that we all should give all glory to him, believe in him, and rest in him only, contemning and rejecting all other aids of our life. For they are fallen from the grace of God, and make Christ of no value unto themselves, whosoever they be that seek salvation in any other things besides Christ alone (Gal. v. 4).